BLACK KNIGHT REGIMENT CH2
Description First action story of the Black Knights-3028. Story The Knights Chapter 2 Black Knights Contract 3028-2 11th Command and 11th Support Companies Karbala Draconis Combine Karbala hung suspended by strings of gravity, as the DropShip approached in high orbit, “First offensive mission Knights be sharp, Greene out”. Captain Arthur Greene breathed deeply he could almost feel the heat being generated by the Leopard Dropship slicing through the atmosphere. He still remembered his first time in combat the terror, fear and adrenaline coursed in his veins then just as it does to this very day. That day the Stewart Dragoons offered him a reserve commission, Tanya was the lucky one she was promoted to Lieutenant. I spent the next few years sharing an old Locust-1S with another reserve pilot. Dad made me a great offer graduate, from the University of Stewart and he’d get me mech. Since the University did not offer martial courses I chose engineering. “Being able to fix those machines is just as important as driving them” dad said, he kept his word and bought one of the three experimental mechs Corean had him design. Going to Solaris seemed like the best thing for me there I won some important and necessary matches. I won a prized Star League era neurohelmet and met dozens of friends from around the Sphere along the way. My last big win gave me some great publicity and enough money to buy a well used Ostscout mech sans power plant and half its sensor suite of course. The win helped me get a spot as a Lieutenant in Hanseson’s Rough Riders Regiment, but I wasn’t alone I took a group of friends from Solaris with me. We signed up for a 4 year tour I figured that I could learn what it took to be a merc maybe that was my future. In the Riders I learned quickly what merc life was all about. They worked hard and partied harder; it was an eye opening experience. Some of the techs from the game stable that had followed me encouraged me to strike out; we did and created the Black Knights. His father’s TBT-EXC was an experimental Trebuchet that failed to make it to the production line, it hummed with power, he had turned every bolt twice on this mech for years and now it was very much his own. “Landing sequence initiated” two minutes to go, years in the making, this would be the first offensive mission of the Black Knights working on contract with 10th Lyran Guards. This opportunity meant that my team could prove its worth and hopefully get better contracts. Getting the Ostscout fully functioning had given an edge in the recon field so I went that way. The ship hovered over the LZ and came to a dead stop in the Haze desert plains outside of the Great Mobul forest. The Black Knights mission was one of recon we were to map several possible landing sites for a planetary invasion by the Guards. Speed was essential; it was important to keep the lance moving so it became imperative to concentrate on piloting at full speed. Corporal Joe Roberts moved the Ostscout with authority if only he could shoot, even though if things got hot it would be best to keep that mech out of the fight. Joe had served with the Stewart Home Guards as an Aerospace pilot he was a short man with stocky arms and legs and deep hazel eyes. He had followed me through my travels to Solaris and Hansen’s Rough Riders as a tech, pilot and Mechwarrior. Mike ‘Killa’ Banas was a better mechwarrior than I; he was also 10 years older and had a minor problem bucking authority. Except me, somehow he respected me, maybe it was the heated arguments or late nights drinking we spent together but it was. The J. Edgar crew was commanded by Sara Siddle a feisty short Lyran with blue eyes and full lips from Port Moseby that had somehow managed to own a fusion powered machine gun packing hovercraft. A SDR-5K rounded out the mech lance piloting it was another warrior from Stewart Jake Crawford. Jake was a cousin of Tim Crawford a friend from Corean Enterprises. Jake was a spitfire of a pilot with platinum blonde hair and wiry strong build. Following in a large ICE powered repair and support vehicle was a group of techs a handful of light infantry and three dispossessed mech warriors. The support vehicle was almost unarmed and by far the slowest of the group but with out it the mission would be difficult to pull off. An invasion of this world was scheduled for sometime in August so we had 2 weeks to scout several possible landing sites. Advanced recon was not my expertise but I was lucky enough that Colonel Hansen recommended the Black Knights. The 10th Lyran Guards were back on Port Moseby along with the 11th Support Company our armor and infantry support unit and the remaining balance of Knight mechs. My mother had inherited a virtual gold mine in Mizar when my grandmother had passed. A half dozen of the most profitable resorts in New Venice Beach, she had been kind enough to loan me enough money to kick start the unit. Dad pitched in with brand new parts and support packs from Corean Enterprises and with a little help from friends made along the way here I was leading my first mission in the desert sands of Karbala. Chu-i Katsumo had guard duty today, as the officer in charge of the Haze garrison lance he had guard duty almost every time he signed in. Being a reserve officer on Karbala was boring but the little extra he skimmed from the armory helped him keep his new girlfriend happy; so Katsumo was happy even though he would rather spend his weekend in town. To the east was the great Haze desert to the north the dense forest of Mobul, the south held the town of Haze and a small hilly region to the west, which is where his two lancemates were training on the gunnery range this morning. Katsumo’s Panther and Dicey’s Jenner stood over him sitting in there repair racks, they were magnificent machines. I liked piloting mechs the ladies loved seeing me pilot a mech but truth be told I hated them, didn’t like anything to encompass me. A motorcycle that’s what I love, “Chu-i we have in unscheduled hover tank coming in from the east.” Maybe I’ll buy a Kawasaki, “Chu-i the writings on the turret indicate they are from the Buckminster Regulars.” Kawasaki motorcycles are fast, wait what’d he say “Gate 1 I’ll be down in a minute” Sergeant Siddle nodded to Arthur Greene her commander and lover he was a tall at 2 meters and handsome with boyish good looks and close cropped blonde hair. She walked past Killa Banas who was a lanky man with long fiery red hair pulled back into twin braided tails he smiled as she brushed past him his face was angular and tipped with a beak like nose. It was told that he got the name Killa for the pleasure he took in killing Draconis Combine soldiers. Dave her driver tossed her a combat helmet “Got orders boss?” “Yeah we’re the first ones in.” He had a slight smile that belied the truth, he was scared she felt certain but would never show it. Captain Greene turned the magnification to max allowing him to see the hover tank slow to a stop “Knights let’s move.” The palm like trees swayed when Mike B moved his Valkyrie into a run, dust kicked up among the sparse vegetation in the oasis they’d been hiding in. Crawford was eager to get out in front the light weight Spider took off with reckless abandon. Normally Greene preferred the slow steady approach, he had even considered bypassing this desert outpost all together; Sara convinced him otherwise. The Knights had painted the J Edgar in Buckminster Regulars colors complete with kanji script, it would allow missions like this to succeed. Sara couldn’t speak any Japanese opening her mouth anyone could easily recognize the Steiner German in her voice. That voice called out to Capt Greene just then “I’m in Captn.” From over 4 kilometers away Greene could see the guard house ablaze the blower tank had destroyed a small 4x4 jeep near the entrance. Outposts like this would be the bain of his mission often their only job was to cow the local population to the Dragon’s will this one just happened to sit right near an unused be serviceable Dropship pad. Sara hammered the thin walled barracks building the heavy bullets pierced through both sides without concern “2 minutes Sara east wall.” Sara’s gunner fired the ruby laser into the communications tower, it melted and fell onto a skimmer. She controlled the machine guns blasting the motorpool personnel, one had the audacity to try and climb into the cockpit of a mech. “Dave turn us quick let’s cover the west gate.” The garrison had two gates, one was already burning the other shot a pair of missiles to dissuade it being burnt down. That fazed Sara not in the least bit especially since the warheads detonated harmlessly away from the blower. Crawford’s Spider hurtled the 2 meter wall with easy it landed on a wooden barracks building killing soldiers who had stopped by the door waiting to shoot the blower tank in the weak rear armor. Roberts vaulted farther into the complex almost to the far north side his single emerald laser burned a guard tower from existence. The Spider blazed away with machine guns pounding the mounting crew of a Galleon tank they all died without unbuttoning the hatch. Capt Greene proceeded to cut his way through the low wall turning it to slag by way of PPC energy. He then kicked the debris opening a path for the support van. The Trebuchet variant detected a skimmer powering up its fusion engine was very cool, not cool enough. Three ruby colored beams lanced outward stricking the skimmer cutting it in half and incinerating the rider. An errant beam beam cut into a propane tank it exploded adding to the chaos of the Blitzkrieg attack. Killa turned his Valkyrie outside the west wall and tracked a Galleon tank stationed just outside the perimeter. The Galleon speared a hot yellow beam of laser light into the side of the Valkyrie. Mike responded with a laser of his own along with a volley of missile fire. The LRM’s flayed metal off the sides and lower skirt on the tank hitting the treading squarely. The tank spun to the right uncontrollably while the tracks on the left side flopped around impotently. The garrison was decimated only a few hardened structures remained, Greene turned his mech ‘the Excalibur’ to the right and launched his six pack Thunderstroke missiles they hit the command bunker but did not breach. He pointed his PPC unleashing a torrent of hellish blue energy the bunker’s top wavered heat then caved in at the ferro-crete center. Crawford’s Spider jumped next to the armory bunker spraying the open bunker doors with a combination of steel jacketed bullets and ruby red laser fire. The doors burst off their seams killing the occupants “Anyone want any ammo?” Crawford laughed and turned his attention to the dining facility “Try to leave some food for us Crawford.” Roberts and Banas picked up a walking patrol after the main resistance ended, the scout mech sending powerful electromagnetic waves into the hilly region to the west. “Captain we’ve got company.” Two of the dispossessed mechwarriors riding shotgun in the support van attacked the climbing ropes on the untended light mechs. The armory doors were flung open and techs grabbed assault rifles, seismic sensors and anything else not tied down. A pair of techs stole 4x4 jeeps and heaped on tools and repair components. The group looked like efficient pirates the few survivors bent down in submission under the big guns of Crawford’s Spider. “Eta Roberts?” “5 minutes boss.” The reply was curt I could tell he was under stress. “Alright team steal anything not nailed down, somebody grab that Galleon tank, weapons, water, food, repair parts in that order.” “Crawford you stay here, led the team back to the desert a few kays then due north to point Tango Sierra 4-2.” “Roberts get back here and start the recon procedure for the droppad, Banas and I will handle the hostiles.” The stolen Panther and Jenner had begun a warm up procedure but it would take too long for them to ‘get hot’ to be of any use in this next phase. Banas fired a brace of LRM’s at the on coming Locust, its speed rocketed to 100 kph in an effort to out run the missiles. Instead it only ran head long catching the entire spread along the right side. The enemy Panther struck out with a covering blast, melting then peeling armor from the torso region of the Valkyrie. Greene’s ‘Excalibur’ completed a flanking maneuver getting into position on the Panthers’ left side. He sent his own blue lighting strike cutting layers of slab like armor from the left arm. The Locust with its arm like wing missing kept plowing forward in a bonsai charge. The Locust and Valkyrie fired simultaneously; Banas’ laser striking the leg of the smaller mech while the Locust cut a beam across his left arm. The Locust kept coming Banas ignited his jump jets and turned the mech to the left side landing in a copse of palm trees. The vegetation near these washed out hills increased tremendously in the northern direction. The Locust did try to turn with the Valkyrie but something caught its foot as it turned all the energy forced it into a long slide along the sandy ground. The Panther turned to face me firing its’ PPC and brace of four missiles. The PPC missed just above my mech’s head and the missiles hit across the front of the modified Trebuchet. In return I snap fired the chest mounted six pack launcher and waited a precious second before taking aim with my own PPC. The volley of missiles destroyed trees and exploded mountains of sand while my PPC shot hit the center torso cutting a deep hole in the enemy mech’s armor. A wave of heat soared through the cockpit and sweat poured down my face. Banas shot a bracket of LRM’s blind siding the Panther. The Panther’s aim spoiled he killed nothing but vegetation. No missiles left his rack maybe I got lucky. I kept circling the enemy mech trying to keep the deadly crossfire going, Banas reported that the Locust was not trying to stand. A PPC blast hit my left arm the heavy slab armor sublimating under the intense heat. In response I fired another blast hitting the torso cutting deep into the already damaged mech my volley of SRM’s followed trailing on rocket motors. They blasted deep inside the Panther igniting other missiles. Corporal Herb Jones dug the unconscious Locust pilot out of the cockpit he had been thrashed around when the harness broke during a 120kph turn. Two techs manned the stolen Galleon tank and Captain Greene walked over watch position. Throwing the pilot the remaining meter to the ground, he woke up with a curse. A tech covered him with a TK assault rifle. Dispossessed no more Jones brought the mech upright, the foot actuator was damaged but overall the mech could still move with the group. Smiling at the sight of his unit Capt Greene was proud, the raid a success. Intelligence information like local maps and patrol routes were found in the Head Quarters bunker along with radio frequencies and a supply cache coordinate in the Mobul forest. Everything was by the book and better than expected. Tao-i Katsumo shed a single tear it fell to the ground like a katana cutting through the air. His only son had died honorably struck down by gaijin raiders as he scaled his mech. The few survivors gave different reports sorting out the details would prove difficult. The basic fact remained his son was dead and he would be avenged. Captain Greene turned the spanner torqueing down the myomer bundle attaching the foot actuator, “Captain I’ll finish that up grab a bit to eat.” Chief tech Harris was from Solaris they had been friends for years having worked in the stables together. Field repairs had been slow taking far too long to replace ammo and patch some armor. The tech crews were not prepared for conditions like these most had worked in factories or in the stables of Solaris. I walked over to a Private sitting on the stolen Galleon tank he nodded and gave me a liter of water and a field ration, “Good news Capn we got lots of rations from them Kurtians too bad there all rice.” “Free is free right” He laughed the tension of today’s battle easing out him. I sat next to the tread gobbling down rice and a loaf of hard bread. The land here was still sandy the palm tree oasis increasing in frequency. The soil had more nutrients and the rain fell more commonly. Just to the north lay the Mobul forest proper protecting it from the desert lay a string of mountainous territory. The east side never had rain fall while the west a virtual paradise from the small ocean’s moisture. Above the great stretch of forest 600 kilometers away is the Capital- Najaf, it is situated northeast of Ashura Ocean. The most concentrated militia troop salong with the mercenary force Vandelays Valkyries would be protecting Najaf and its thriving spaceports. When the invasion came the Guards wanted us to provide accurate mapping giving them good intel of the area. That meant hitting the garrison in Hussad, 250 kilometers to the north. Lost in thought I didn’t notice Sara standing beside me “Penny for your thoughts.” “Next task got me to thinking.” “About,” Sara crouched down and plucked a rice cake from the ration pack. “Splitting the team up.” She gave a hesitated look. “I’ll assemble the section heads.” She read my mind. If she knew I had a son would she feel differently about me? “Sara you get to lead on the secondary squad,” She spoke into her helmet mike quickly. Leaving the comfort of the Palm tree shielding the dying sun we jogged over to ‘Excalibur’ she continued on to her Blower tank. His Warhammer kicked sand high into the air, the fading light cast a long shadow across the arid landscape. He hadn’t pushed fast enough to catch the raiders before night fall. His lance of heavy mechs could crush the bandits if, if he could catch them. Nightfall gave them an advantage it made it much more difficult to track and almost impossible to track hovercraft. “They split up Tao-i,” The Hover vehicles went north east, the tracked vehicles and mechs deeper into the palm groves. Night had fallen the single moon gave off no reflected light and their heat radiation had already gone “Bring up the support elements, split into hunter teams continue searching.” Sara straddled the wheeled tracks of the support van as it moved steadily along the soft earth. Her tank masked the tracks and an infantryman flanked the rear riding in a hover skimmer. The palm groves continued to get heavier the air almost seemed moist though she didn’t dare stick her head out of the tank. Dust was everywhere she had but one thought on this night, would she ever see Arthur again. Tao-i Katsumo picked up the trail at midnight he vectored the other teams to converge north of his position thinking that the gaijin warriors might try to attack Hussad. If they did he would crush them. He felt the noose tighten around their necks. Dawn brought about new challenges for Captain Greene he had slept on the flat upper torso section of his mech. He stretched and cleared his mind with a Tai-chi exercise. Climbing back into his Trebuchet variant he wolfed down a ration meal washing it down with a instant coffee “Capn we got trouble,” Roberts had been last on watch his long range scanners working overtime. “ETA is 15 minutes.” “How many Roberts?” “Scanners indicate two mechs I think a Wasp and Javelin, bearing 340 degrees.” I switched to the team channel “Good morning Knights looks like we’ve got some trouble, Mark, Crawford and Tex form on me let’s backtrack our trail, everyone else continue on, Banas you have command.” Jones in his beat up Locust tried to protest but I shot him down quick. His Warhammer hadn’t cooled down in the early morning breeze because his company hadn’t rested all night. His lance of support armor was 25 kay’s to the south taking a logging road to Hussad. The unit was spread out the trails seem to end and begin without reason. A trail would finish with a burned piece of ground and pick back up over several hundred meters away. His right flank was held by his fastest mechs a pair of lights. Greene waited in a stand of evergreens he could not place what type they were, they had large palm like leaves, some red others a dark yellow and in seconds they would be burned down. The Knights waited patiently the false trail that the two enemy mechs followed abruptly ended 120 meters away from his 50 ton mech. Before they reached the dying freshly cut path the Javelin pilot switched to magscan and promptly activated it’s jump jets. Greene fired his main cannon it burned a patch of leaves off the nearest tree cutting into the Javelin’s torso. Mark fired his captured Panther’s PPC it burned bright blue melting almost completely through the thin armor of the Wasp left side, without warning a pair a missiles cooked off and the mech came apart in a shower of fire. Crawford’s Spider jumped next to the Javelin savaging the torso with machine gun fire and a single scarlet beam. The Kuritan mech returned fire both SRM launchers shot out corkscrewing missiles hitting the Spider across its light frame. Crawford held his ground weathering the powerful blows. Tex in the stolen Jenner supported Crawford with a quartet of medium lasers and a 4 pack of missiles. The fire was too much for the Javelin pilot whose center torso caved in upon itself, the eject seat automatically launched sending the mechwarrior high over the battleground. The Knights were being shadowed by DCMS forces Captain Greene could feel the pressure since killing the two DC scout mechs. The group had been on the move for ten hours busy mapping several landing sites and attempting to create false trails and ambush loops as they went. The pursuing mechs units stayed just out of rear guard sensor range, normal sensor range but by sending Roberts to the rear he could pick up at least a lance trailing behind. The Ostscout needed to stay out in front to warn of any impending danger and to be able to effectively guide the team. The commander was herding us I felt certain that he wanted us to go Hussad. Possibly to the south end where we thought could be the garrison base. It would be a fine trap he had a lance behind us and a lance in front a perfect hammer and anvil tactic. “Knights let’s try another loop on that back trail Crawford just made.” Twin beams of azure light speared towards the Sentinel, one cut an arm off another blasted deep inside the internal structure damaging the reactor shielding. Moments before the impact it had sent a single 50 mm shell which impacted the head of Jones Locust mech. Capt Greene and Mark had teamed up to concentrate fire on the flanking mech. The forest here was full of colors pale greens and bright yellows mixed with deadly ruby lances and emerald darts. Tai-i Katsumo had sent his quick mechs ahead to continue the pursuit of the bandit party while his heavies slowly kept up. Chu-i Haji detected the loss of another mech now all that remained of his lance was him. The bandit Valkyrie kept sending wave after wave of missiles some just chewed up the foliage others dug huge chunks of precious armor off his Falcon. Its short range weapons were of no use against this foe. When I jumped it jumped the terrain gave no solace, the missiles seemed never ending. The Locust came from thin air but it was the last thing Haji ever saw. Sara watched the mining team set vibro explosives from her vantage point three kilometers away; a separate squad had the roadblocked with a Galleon tank. The operation indicated that the DCMS forces believed that they would be attacked from the south. Sara’s small group had emerged from the woodline two hours ago setting up surveillance immediately. From initial observation the garrison looked to be smaller than its sister base in Haze. But after borrowing a skimmer and viewing the garrison from other angles she noticed that the ammunition and supply depot were separate. The depot was attached to several civilian warehouses and had access to a maglev train station. She had her tank and 3 stolen skimmers the support van was too valuable for this op to be used. It would all be about timing as she cleaned her brother’s neurohelmet. As night fell the moon cast a slight reflection against the open field in front of Sergeant Siddle. Sara hoped that any troops that saw her would hesitate even a second. She felt extremely exposed riding the skimmer straight into the enemies’ layer. To her right coming in on the maglev line was the balance of her force they would be covered from view for another 20 seconds. She increased speed to 240 kph the skimmer shook beneath her. The eastern gate was manned with two sentries one did hesitate bellowing out an unintelligible warning the other leveled his TK assault rifle and opened fire. Bullets dinged off the plexisteel cowling richoeting into the blackness of night. Sara tapped the laser trigger cutting a hole into the roadblock sign as she raced past she cut the night with an inferno blast. The ball of flame burned true catching the guard house on fire along with parts of the low slung wall protecting the camp. The guards dashed for cover the fire frightening them into submission. Sara heard chatter from the second attack force they had breached the northern gate and begun the diversion. Earlier Sara had watched a pair of mechs go on patrol she also noted the other two mech were being kept in a ready 5 status prepared for a quick launch. The engines stayed hot all they needed was a pilot and his code. The code she couldn’t get but her brother had taught her how to be a true warrior although only certified to pilot a Commando she knew she could pilot a bigger machine. Captain Greene had received the message from his support people not to attack from the south but to the west. Attacking from the west they would approach an estimated lance of dug in armor. Mike ‘Killa’ Banas wished that his missile bin would regenerate it wouldn’t no matter how hard he prayed. He had gotten too aggressive fighting that Falcon earlier today. He had one in the tube and a one reload in the bin, he would use them wisely. Jones led the attack his Locust moved past an infantry position raking it with a single machine gun and an emerald beam. The soldiers burned to a cinder as the heat from the beam lanced over them. Jones didn’t wait to count bodies he poured on more speed firing his laser again at an engineer vehicle racing away from a roadblocked side road. Crawford jumped up high into the night air for a second he was the image of the sun. Banas followed closely beside the Spider although his mech couldn’t reach the height or length. Mark shot his Panther upward only seconds later again shattering the stillness of the landscape. Tex in his Jenner was last he waited a full 30 seconds before going airborne his missile rack hadn’t cooled down from destroying an off road GM military technical. Captain Greene ran alongside their stolen Galleon tank its IFF tag had been switched but it could still be mistaken for an enemy tank. Greene wanted to keep the Drac forces pinned down outside the western wall for a few precious minutes. It seemed like a dozen flares of light ignited the sky all at once, Sara noted. That was the idea, she wanted, no had to have the time for this to work. She leapt off the skimmer leaving the engine running and dashed into the repair shed. Going into a partially opened door her shadow was dwarfed by the menacing form of two heavy mechs. Her target was the Archer a standard -2R version the other a Dragon would also be a fine addition but she couldn’t pilot two. Three techs and a bald warrior turned to face her. His Warhammer moved as quickly as possible, his team had abandoned the trail that the invaders had taken an hour ago relying on the roadway instead. Having not been forced into a cockpit this long since his younger days was beginning to show as he moved the heavy mech north along the ferrocrete road Hussad still 40 kilometers away. Four Vedette tanks spat 50mm shells concentrating on the first target in range; a Locust. Jones blazed away, tracer shells cutting paths hitting the fleeing infantry in the back as they broke and ran for cover. A trio of high explosive shells shattered the mech sending it into the ground. Crawford didn’t stop for Jones, instead his bullets found the tan coats the Drac infantry wore and turned them to red, poor bloody infantry. Banas saw the muzzle flash from the autocannons he slowed his mech and launched his last volleys. The first landed on the turret of a Vedette tank immobilizing it with a lucky shot. The next volley landed inside the low perimeter wall protecting the garrison, the missiles detonating an unarmored support truck. The 250 gallon ethanol filled tanker shook the ground nothing could slow the blast for a hundred meters. It consumed the first immobilized medium tank in a ball of fire, the blast wave knocked down the wall around it, flipping over two smaller military jeeps, the fire raged uncontrolled over the hull down position of another tank. The fire silhouetted the other two tanks making them a perfect target. Chu-i Jota drew his Katana blade it was the only weapon he had, in the fraction of a second it took for his blade to swing freely two techs had been shot. Blood speared from the needler wounds spraying his pristine black uniform. The women stood her ground firing the needler again the plastic ripping flesh from an astech’s arm, he covered the distance quickly scything the blade down in a small arc. He felt nothing the blade had missed he leapt into a kick catching the retreating warrior’s right hand. The needler landed on the ground with a thud discharging a brace of plastic shards into the ceiling. She was in trouble the bald warrior had moved behind the techs each round she fired missed him but turned them into a bloody mess. She didn’t like needle weapons per se but right now they did a great job. The mechwarrior lunged with an overhead strike that she quick dodged. Her hand stll posed for a shot went numb as the man kicked the gun from her hand. She knew it was about to get very bad. Captain Greene walked his mech into the southern guard post crushing it with his 50 ton beast. A Galleon tank followed him firing its medium laser into the nearest building. A tracked APC swung out and fired a burst of machine gun fire apparently at nothing. Greene launched the Thunderstroke SRM system caving the turret in and setting off the stored ammo. Shots flew in every direction most richoeted back inside the APC. Banas covered Crawford’s Spiders’ rear using his laser to fry infantry to Hell. Crawford was hunting a Scorpion tank, the tank had two main barrels it was the common laser variant. The fire from the alcohol explosion had burned itself off, the secondary fires would rage all night if untreated. Tex sent his Jenner over the flame landing on the communications bunker his missile pack destroyed the tower, then he fired two lasers at a fleeing Packrat. One beam melted armor from the weak rear slab another cut harmlessly into a large repair shed. Mark jumped the stolen Panther near a flag pole the Kuritan Dragon whipped in the wind. He reached out with his left hand and pulled the pole until it fell to the ground like the enemy forces around it. Tex’s emerald laser beam harmlessly entered the repair building missing Sara and her bald companion by two meters. Sara shielded her eyes instinctively, they burned intensely and her exposed skin was flash tanned, the bald man wasn’t so lucky. His back was boiling the beam struck among the various mechanic tools creating a pool of sublimating metal where the wounded tech’s once laid. It took several seconds for her to recover sight enough to continue on, thermal energy bled off of everything her own body felt like an oven. She continued on making her way into the safety of the heavy missile boat. Chief Tech Harris could wait no more he spun the tires on the support van breaking cover racing toward the battle. Captain Greene locked on to the hiding Scorpion tank after it had cut away half a ton of armor, making his right leg damage diagram go to yellow. Firing all his weapons would make the cockpit turn into a sauna but he didn’t care he needed this raid to be over quickly. My trio of head lasers all hit the two smalls and single medium cut a furrow into the glacial armor while the PPC melted the twin laser barrels. I locked on to the HQ bunker one rocket careened into a fleeing skimmer sending the pilot into some Draconian Hell while the rest scattered among the ferrocrete façade. The Black Knight infantry man manning the scarlet laser firing stolen Galleon tank had his first kill that night destroying the Scorpion by cutting its front end off. Corporal Jones released the hatch on his Locust the mech was broken, its leg 20 meters distant. Jones struggled to slide to the ground as his shoulder had been dislocated. Hellish flames licked the earth secondary explosions rocked the ground. He never noticed the Drac soldier lob a fragmentation grenade his way, never heard the shock wave as it ruptured his ear drum, never felt the pain or suffering the thousand blades caused his body. Sara moved the big beast pushing the thin walled doors away she strolled the mech into the night. It moved with an uncertain grace she had used her neurohelmet and entered a diagnostic code allowing her to move up to walking speed but not fire any of its high power weapons. That was fine with her she just needed to keep the enemy off balance a minute more. The other Black Knight mechs were within 200 meters, apparently racing after a Packrat wheeled tank. The ‘rat’ slowed in front of her, then turned to the right heading toward the north gate. She guided the big Archer downward and scooped the ‘rat’ into its right side, pinching the swiveling weapon system in place. Her J. Edgar crew had survived the battle but her tank along with the two skimmers and accompanying infantrymen did not. An escaping Striker had damaged the blower tank crippling the stabilizer that in turn sent the tank into a spin ramming a hardened bunker. The damage was extensive and would take a week to fix. They didn’t have a week Chief Harris was in the process of recalibrating a Kuritan neurohelmet and jacking the codes on the Dragon. Long ago he worked as a tech for Corean and was fully certified to pilot a mech. The rest of the team was loading stolen goods onto the maglev train. Roberts had used his powerful sensor suite to jam most signals of the battle from the pursuing DCMS militia. Smoke filled the air only a fool on another continent wouldn’t know what had happened here. Katsumo was no fool as the road opened into a wider multilane one he could see the carnage, trucks over turned, small brush fires, dead soldiers lie everwhere. The mine fields he had ordered covered only one avenue of approach the raiders struck from opposite directions bypassing the garrison’s best defense. These were no pirates; simple bandits would have searched for easier targets, softer targets. He found a communications van near the south eastern wall, climbing down from the Warhammer his joints ached and muscles creaked he opened the rear door and began to power up the long range radio system. Sara’s J Edgar driver Private Dave Jimenez could drive a Maglev train his father had been a conductor. We all piled on board loading the mechs, vehicles and stolen items with abandon. Captain Greene sat in a plush day bed and fell asleep next to his lover Sara Siddle. He dreamed of his son, who his father Joel was raising on Stewart. Andrew was a love child bore with a girl he had met while in college, she had tragically died in a VTOL accident only months after Andrew was born. Andrew was 12 the last message indicated that he loved his quad atv that I had bought him. It was a Ford flyer from Solaris a red one and he drove it every day; every day that his pawpaw allowed it. I could see him jumping over hills and cutting across the hybrid grasses on Stewart. The Ashura Ocean was a calm body of water centered in the largest continent of Karbala. Millions of years ago it had been a part of the Syrian Seas which now bordered the Zargos continent. Captain Greene studied the surrounding terrain from the luxury of a rooftop repair garage the mild ocean breeze swirling around him. Greene was a fair man entering the port city he did not kill or attack without provocation. Several friendly persuaders did resist in retaliation he crushed only the police station with his personal mech, a modified Trebuchet. Excalibur waded into the three story building blasting it to the ground. Today the Black Knights had been on Karabala for 9 days, the mission to gather intelligence and terrain mapping had gone like clockwork. Their Ostscout had located 5 primary zones for the invasion by Lyran Forces. In 3 days time they would be here we had already sent precious data from the city’s powerful transmitter to the invasion force. We would still have to liberate Odell when the rest of the Black Knights arrived so this fight wasn’t over by half. Sergeant Siddle liked being the attacker just hated defensive situations. The initial contracts that the Knights held were garrison jobs low paying, boring guard duty. The Knights had been holed up in this city for a few days now some of the techs even snuck out for a dip in the cool night air. The ocean was very nice the seafood delicious nothing like pork schnitzel her favorite. Her captured Archer although old was in excellent condition the dawning light glimmered off the newly repainted Black Knight logo. Chief Tech Harris yawned and rolled out of his bunk he poured himself a cup of strong Karabala coffee the aroma had awaken him from his restful sleep. Some other techs had rousted out of there stolen DCMS cots. Not 3 meters away his newest addition to the company stood tall and proud. The Combines own DRG-1N Dragon the Knights logo had catalyzed only hours before. Last night Captain Greene christened the mech with a bottle of sparkling water. The unit was in lock down mode concerning drinking or fraternizing but a resourceful infantry sergeant had smuggled in a few local beers for the two to sit and enjoy. The unit had started with four mechs now it totaled eight. The stolen Archer and Dragon mechs would be essential for the rest of the mission. Captain Greene needed me to pilot this one, he needed me to pilot it today. Sho-sa Omura activated his secondary display; two companies of militia mechs covered the display. It had taken three days to prepare his force and with the greatest of care he had surrounded the gaijin filth. Katsumo’s force waited to the south his lance of heavy mechs would surely fight long and hard after the bandits had killed his son. They were bandits no matter what Katsumo said to the contrary. Omura activated his comm. system “Let the attack begin.” A Swift wind scout car is unarmed and almost unarmored that must be the reason the Drac troops manning it high tailed it when the shooting started. The soldiers ran so fast they left the keys in it, private just call me ‘Dave’ Jimenez thought. The commo tech typed away furiously in the back as Dave lit another cigarette, he hated the cheap Combine brands preferring his own smokes from Skye. Captain Greene had stationed us about twenty kays from the port city of Assu. We were to support Corporal Roberts who was currently tracking a company of DCMS militia just to the west. The codes we stolen back at the Haze garrison had bore little fruit, it did give us an idea of what frequencies the snakes used. We had mostly just sat here all passive like waitin, for a signal. The DCMS militia attack began at 0645 local time about 15 minutes after stand too. Our Ostscout had tracked a company of mechs crossing the Maglev lines twelve kay’s outside of Assu we all took showers that night and woke up with coffee and eggs. And then we marched out and prepared for the day. “Knight 6 this Wind 1 we have a go, repeat a go.” Donning my Star League era neurohelmet I activated the ‘all units’ channel “Knights we are a go for attack, repeat a go for attack.” The commands went out to every member of the Black Knight unit 8 mechs and almost a lance of armored tanks. A platoon of riflemen sprang from hiding places along the coast line rushing forward to find cover. Crawford’s twin machine guns mounted to his Spider cut them down without pause or mercy. The infantry poured from little rubber dingies they faced the early morning sun and died with their backs to the ocean. Mechwarrior Mark Ginyard ignited his jump jets at the first sign of trouble, a Whitworth and Clint had him bracketed he moved from buildings firing his PPC sporadically. His partner ‘Tex’ did the same playing tag with a Vindicator, both Black Knight mechs kept maneuvering their prey towards the southeastern outskirts where a warehousing district was located. Banas stood his ground firing LRMs at a Galleon tank trying to make a break across the Maglev line. The tank weathered the volley its medium laser counterattacking melting a portion of the train station’s walkway. Chief Tech Harris walked his mech a Dragon down a side street facing the south. The buildings around him gave him good cover and he could see Sergeant Siddles’ Archer firing ahead. Captain Greene stored pair of swords under his command couch they belonged to the commanding officer of the last garrison they encountered. Hussad had been easy the battle here would be much more difficult. The bandit Archer was behind a row of beach apartments firing with the help of a spotter. Tai-i Katsumo deactivated the automatic shut off sequence the heat inside his cockpit was unbearable, his eyes could hardly blink. Somewhere a spotter relayed targeting data on his lance. The first set of accurate missiles rained down on his mech a lucky round had created a critical fault in his fusion reactor. Heat poured from the vented crack. He still fired his PPC’s sporadically, “All units advance,” but the heat made breathing difficult in his Warhammer. His heavy lance continued on without him as missiles fell like steel darts around him, pulling him down. Waiting in an abandoned warehouse Captain Greene could see the approaching Clint, using a camera mounted on the building. It was trying to flank one of his warriors, bad mistake. The tiny camera panned downward just a bit, a parked truck came into full view. The Clint’s leg a scant 5 meters from it, the produce truck had a vibrobomb attached to its undercarriage. Greene felt the blast it created from 200 meters away, the truck also had a few bags of fertilizer and appropriate fuel mixtures. The camera no longer worked having caught shrapnel in its focusing lens. Walking his beast out the rolling front door seemed like a grand gesture the Clint sprawled at his feet. Its right leg destroyed at the knee it still attempted to regain balance. A brace of short range missiles peppered the mech sending it back to crater the ferrocrete. He fired his right arm mounted PPC and then swung the mech south. The Trebuchet variant ‘Excalibur’ moved precisely building up speed. “Mark where are you?” “Warehouse 5 and you Knight 6?” “Due north ,you have company?” “Yes sir a Whitworth.” Moving past a few smaller buildings then taking a sharp left Greene turned the corner directly behind the enemy Whitworth. Firing his SRM pack, twin smaller lasers and single head mounted medium laser the armor of the mech melted then exploded and caved outward. He kicked the mech, hitting squarely in the exposed gyro. The Maruader crushed the apartment building that Sergeant Siddle had been using as cover the heavy walls crashed down thunderously. Harris took aim with the Dragon’s weaponry from an optimal distance. The Maruader had taken various hits from missile fire none had breached through its thick armor, yet. Standing around a pile of rubble it was tagged with a score of missiles from the Telos rack, my medium laser cut armor from the torso and the 50mm autocannon rounds missed the Marauder just short. I hadn’t been in combat for a long time and it was great to feel the adrenaline pumping. The heat level came up a hair another brace of missiles came from Sara’s mech aimed at some distant target. The Marauder turned its attention grinding away another wall around the narrow side streets. Sara moved her mech to a secondary fire emplacement behind another row of apartment complexes. Twin blue bolts seared the frontal armor from my Dragon but I held my ground, today might be my last day better make it a good one. “All Knights rendezvous at location 3-9, repeat 3-9,” 3-9 was the southern tip of the city of Assu that part was very tight and confining with narrow avenues and mostly public housing. Roberts and Dave our scout team would know to meet at the southern rally point 30 kilometers from the city. We had stashed a small amount of ammunition and armor kits at a small beach house along with a few other surprises for any following DC troops. Moving my ‘Excalibur’ mech past the warehouse district I had rounded up Banas, Mark, and Tex. The main push by the militia forces came from the north a Grasshopper seemed to be leading the elements ferociously. A snake Panther came into view jumping high on jets of plasma. As it crested a building I fired a PPC blast hitting it with a glancing blow on the left arm. His Grasshopper leapt over a row of ground cars landing firmly on a food cart sending pastries flying out its bloated side. Sho-sa Omura fired his LRM pack at the evading Spider. The pilot crouched down for a split second the missiles destroying an office complex. He activated his jump jets again but the Spider jock hit his trigger also jumping twice the distance. This warrior had slaughtered a company’s’ worth of men who had came in by the port side of Assu. “Hohiro where are you?” Hohiro was in a Locust mech, his job was to box in this offending Gaijin mech. “Sir I am alongside the docks I am fighting two bandit tanks.” The Locust was a great scout mech but suffered from light armaments. “Break off your attack Hohiro the mech must take priority.” “Yes sir,” Hohiro almost shouted his last statement Omura could tell he was under much pressure, most of his command had never been in combat and they were green troops. Veterans like Katsumo would never fail him preferring death before failure. His Warhammer was an oven although he no longer had anyone shooting at him and inversely had no object to shoot at his mech still was roasting him. The final barrage had severed his right arm and destroyed some of his secondary weapons; he moved the mech to the nearby beach hoping to cool his leg mounted heat sinks down. His Marauder was down it had fallen while being attacked by a Gaijin invader. His other mechs still roamed in the city unable to engage the enemy effectively. The Black Knights charged down the widest street in Assu, Jake Crawford assumed rear guard, enemy forces seemed to be converging from the north. “Captain we’ve got a heavy lance closing fast.” Captain Greene didn’t detect any northern forces on his short range sensors but he trusted his men far more. “Keep moving on Sara and Harris’ position we’ll break the siege there.” He stopped his mech near a park turning it to face north; he saw the Grasshopper land on the top of a restaurant the mech crashed down the roof of the building. His PPC bolt seared the head of the great mech, a very fortunate shot damaging the LRM launcher and sensor array. The Grasshopper fell, and Sho-sa Omura bit his tongue and banged his arm on the command couch the pain went up his shoulder stabbing his backside. Ozone wafted around him electronics popped and cut out, secondary systems failed leaving the communications and targeting systems extremely short ranged. He attempted to right the warbeast but he slipped from the vertigo and pain still throbbing in his upper shoulder. Her mech was nearly out of ammo so was her patience, she crouched the big Archer down as autocannon rounds flew above her. A JM6-S obviously captured sometime in the past had hounded her relentlessly. She was finished with the retreating action making the southern corridor wide open for the Knights to make good their escape. She brought the heavy mech up locking on with her twin emerald lasers, both shots missed low turning the earth to glass. The Jager blasted back with dozens of light autocannon rounds. Most hit chipping armor and creating a much pitted Black Knight merc mech. Sara fired a ripple volley of 40 missiles, heat flushed her skin pulling every drop of moisture. The missiles peppered the Kallon Industries mech not all hit but the combined effect sent the beast to the ground with a boom. Sara moved the Archer closer to the fallen mech firing both lasers into the torso of the Jager, setting off the ammo within. His mech was partial submerged in the cooling Ashura Ocean, the mech had taken more damage than he had anticipated. Katsumo drank deeply from a water bottle licking his chapped lips he stowed the depleted bottle. His torso was breached and his mechs’ fusion engine had lost power it would take an hour just to restart the power plant if he could get his emergency generator back on line. From the view port he saw them racing southward, the enemy, killers of his son and hundreds of loyal Combine troops; Gaijin Mercenaries. The logo they displayed was set on a white backdrop a single black knight holding a sword. He counted the mechs as they passed he noted the stolen tanks he sat unable to do anything but watch and scream a harsh coarse yell. They had made it out of the trap, running at full steam until they reached the rally point. Roberts and the Swift Wind scout car awaited them ready to trek on to the next location. Arthur Greene loaded fresh missiles into the ammo bin with the help of Crawford’s two handed mech. The rest of the Knights did the same tacking up crude plates of armor on open spots or grabbing a quick bit to eat. Joe Roberts activated his private frequency the com unit squawked to life “I just picked up intermittent mag scan readings on the second trail, do you want me to activate the seismic scanners?” We had placed a few mag and seismic scanners along possible routes from the north two days ago. The radio waves from the sensors were easily detectable and wouldn’t last long once cranked up. “Yeah Roberts turn em on, oh Joe just wanted to say you’ve done a great job thanks.” Joe needed the pick me up we all needed something after that battle. “Captain they’re active, showing six heavies in bound 6 kays to the north I’ll feed the data to Excalibur.” Katsumo had gotten his mech back in running order, the fusion plant still bled excess heat and dangerous levels of radiation but he didn’t care. His lancemate pulled up further ahead the Orion crushed a sensor, these Black Knights were no bandits that he could feel without question. They had disabled several garrisons and cut communication links across the planet. Omura agreed with his view his commander wanted to crush this force because something else was happening, what we didn’t know. Omura’s mech had sustained critical cockpit failure and had been forced to stay in Assu it was up to me to lead the forces to victory. The gaijin heat sources lay dead ahead and Tai-i Katsumo wanted to be the first on scene. Three power plants warming up by the banks of the Ashura Ocean, we had damaged their mechs he had seen a Dragon without an arm they must have stopped. Breaking the treeline with his one armed Warhammer Katsumo kicked over a pile of scrap armor. Inside was a false heat emitter, another trap he crushed the device sending a signal to four inferno launchers. The heat was unlivable almost immediately he grabbed for the ejection release, popping the hatch he launched upward bathing himself in a cleansing fire. The signal from the inferno launch caused his hairs to rise on the back of his head a warrior had died horribly. Captain Greene walked his mech to the surface, waves lapped at his mechs stubby head. The viewport awash with the salty water, didn’t hinder the targeting system and an Orion caught his first blast, the PPC cutting armor from the heavy. Around him Black Knight mechs arose from the depths locking on the nearest target and firing. A full company of militia mechs turned to face the Knights unleashing a torrent of missiles. The DC warriors walked toward the soft sandy beach, one unlucky mech stepped on a mine shattering its leg. We had placed only three mines here the all stolen from the garrison at Hussad, our luck had held another mech a Rifleman had its lower leg armor destroyed although it did not fall. Autocannon rounds skipped off the water as the Orion returned fire. Another PPC blast tore its heavy arm from the socket, short range missiles fell from the ready tube. Sara launcher a flight of missiles at the Rifleman its damaged leg was unable to hold the great weight. The leg snapped under the pressure titanium bones turned to dust under the onslaught. The Orion launched a volley of missiles hitting my exposed upper torso another brace of autocannon rounds destroyed precious armor. My heat stayed low the cooling waters allowed me to fire all my weapons with ease. The last vibro bomb exploded the energy it released rending the leg from an enemy Crusader. Sara launched a volley on it crippling the Crusader with efficiency. Firing my SRM 6 pack the Orion fell to one knee stumbling over battlefield debris, I unleashed a blue blot of lighting into his head killing the pilot. After the Orion died the remaining DCMS troops retreated back into the forest perhaps thinking that we had mined the entire beach. We limped south hoping to meet up with the invasion force soon. Author's Notes Hope you enjoy this saga of the Black Knight's unit. Category:Fan Fiction